Quesnel: Moral Reflections on the Gospels Vol 1

208 ST. MATTHEW.
" 32. Which indeed is the least of all seeds; but
when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and
becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and lodije in the branches thereof."
Truth is depressed in this world, and advanced in
the other. The saints find in it their eternal rest,
and reap the first-fruits of it in their heart, even here
below. The more humble a man is in this life, the
more shall he be exalted in the next. These are two
characters of the true church, and of the doctrine of
the gospel, upon which it is built, to be, according
to the order and appointment of their founder, very
small in their beginning, and very extensive in their
progress and continuance. Our duty is to aim chiefly
at our own abasement ; it belongs to God to enlarge
and to exalt us. What are, generally speaking, the
first impressions of grace, the first motions of faith
in the heart, but only a little spark which kindles the
fire of charity there, a grain of mustard seed which
fills it with its strength and virtue ? Let us not
neglect and despise any thing.
" 33. ^ Another parable spake he unto them ;
The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a
woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till
the whole was leavened."
Whatever use we make of our understanding,
our will, and our body, without the leaven of faith
and charity, is disagreeable and nauseous to God.
The divinity united to the human nature in Christ;
the gospel difi'used throughout the world; the Spirit
of God working in a sinner's heart; and the sacra-
mental bread nourishing a Christian soul : these are
the different sorts of leaven, which thy wisdom, O